Portland Bureau of Emergency Management
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The Portland Bureau of Emergency Management (PBEM) is the City of Portland's enterprise emergency management agency. It was established as a City bureau in 2004, and the Portland NET program was included as part of PBEM's portfolio.
Subpages
Historic Disasters in the Portland Metro Area
PBEM's Work and Organization
Over the years, PBEM has invested time and resources in three primary mission areas:
- Planning: Expand and maintain a complete suite of disaster mitigation, response, and recovery plans. This mission area also includes collaborating with other City bureaus on Continuity of Operations Plans (COOP), which describes how individual bureaus will get services to Portlanders back on line after a major disruption or disaster.
- Operations: Advance readiness of Portland's Emergency Operations Center (EOC). PBEM staff are responsible for maintaining the EOC and ensuring it is ready to activate at a moment's notice. This mission area also includes the Duty Officer program. PBEM Duty Officers are trained to activate the EOC for major emergencies and planned events. Duty Officers also monitor major emergency incidents and coordinate information sharing and operations between bureaus and Portland elected officials.
- Community Programming: Aims to inspire a culture of disaster resilience and preparedness. This mission area includes promoting a whole community approach to preparedness and integrating emergency management into broader community-oriented goals (such as disaster hubs). This mission area is managed by PBEM's Community Preparedness Team.
PBEM is led by a Director who reports to the Public Safety Service Area (PSSA) Deputy City Administrator. PBEM's mission is supported by a small in-house administrative team and administrators in the PSSA.
PBEM also shares office space with the Regional Disaster Policy Organization (RDPO). However, RDPO is considered a separate regional organization.
Governing Codes and Rules
PBEM Community Preparedness Team
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Historic Disasters in the Portland Metro Area
The following table lists historic disasters in Portland.
| Day 1 Date | Event | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1700.01.26 | 1700 Cascadia Earthquake | |
| 1861.12.05 | Great Flood of 1861-1862 | |
| 1873.08.02 | Great Fire of 1873 | |
| 1874.06.24 | Portland Flood of 1876 | |
| 1880.01.09 | Great Gale of 1880 | |
| 1894.06.05 | Willamette River Flood of 1894 [1] | |
| 1931.04.21 | 1931 Dust Storm | |
| 1948.05.30 | 1948 Columbia River flood (Vanport) | |
| 1950.01.09 | 1950 Winter Storm | Snow began falling around January 9. Snow and wind closed all the highways west of the Cascades and in the Gorge. An ice storm followed on the 18th, downing trees and power lines and covering roads. 15.5 inches of snow fell on January 21. Portland saw 32.9 inches of snow fall that month total. The storm also led to a state of emergency being declared by the governor and mayor. This storm holds the record for highest snowfall in Portland in a month. |
| 1962.10.12 | Columbus Day Storm of 1962 | |
| 1964.03.27 | Tsunami from Alaska Quake | Five Oregonians were killed from the tsunami that followed Alaska's 9.4 Good Friday earthquake. |
| 1964.12.18 | Christmas Flood of 1964 | |
| 1972.04.05 | 1972 Vancouver Tornado | |
| 1978.12.28 | United Airlines Flight 173 | |
| 1980.03.27 | Eruption of Mount St. Helens | |
| 1981.11.13 | Friday the 13th Windstorm | |
| 1993.03.25 | 1993 Scotts Mills earthquake | |
| 1995.12.12 | 1995 Windstorm[2][3] | |
| 1996.02.05 | Willamette Valley Flood of 1996 | |
| 2008.12.14 | 2008 Major Snowstorm | 14.9 inches of snow. |
| 2009.06.06 | Influenza A-H1N1 Pandemic in Portland | 1,833 confirmed cases; 1,419 hospitalizations; 79 deaths. |
| 2014.12.11 | December 2014 Windstorm | |
| 2020.02.28 | COVID-19 Pandemic in Portland | 967,156 confirmed cases; 35,030 hospitalizations; 8,415 deaths. |
| 2020.05.28 | George Floyd Demonstrations | |
| 2021.06.26 | 2021 Heat Dome | Extreme heat with high temperatures reaching 108°, 112°, and 116° on three consecutive days. 72 deaths attributable to the heat in Portland, and 257 ER or urgent care visits. |
Major emergency events in Portland
The table below lists major emergency incidents in Portland's history that are notable but do not rise to the designation of "disaster".
| Day 1
Date |
Event | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1892.12.22 | 1892 Portland Snowstorm | 14 inches of snow in 24 hours. |
| 1902.01.02 | 1902 Portland Snowstorm | 15 inches of snow in 24 hours. |
| 1905.06.01 | Lewis and Clark Exposition | Sometimes called the Portland "World's Fair". 1.8 million visitors arrived in Portland over four months. The emergency management nexus here is not just the crowd, but that the City filled Guild's Lake in NW Portland shortly after the Expo (the Expo took place on an island in Guild's Lake). As a result, Portland's largest industrial neighborhood is built on fill. |
| 1919.12.10 | 1919 Portland Snowstorm | 13.5 inches of snow in 24 hours. |
| 1937.02.01 | 1937 Portland Snowstorm | 12.8 inches of snow in 24 hours. |
| 1943.01.21 | 1943 Portland Snowstorm | 15.5 inches of snow in 24 hours. |
| 1970.08.28 | Vortex I | A rock music festival held by Gov. Tom McCall to attract counterculture protesters away from downtown Portland, coinciding with a visit from President Richard Nixon. The gambit is credited with ensuring that Portland did not suffer demonstrations as experienced in Chicago, in 1968, during the Democratic National Convention. |
| 2008.05.19 | Barack Obama visit | Estimated 72,000 event attendees. |
| 2008.10.09 | Terwilliger Landslide | Six homes destroyed in major SW Portland landslide. |
| 2009.11.11 | Marysville Elementary School fire | 3-alarm fire, two injuries, no deaths. |
| 2010.10.20 | President Barack Obama visits Portland | Oregon Convention Center. |
| 2010.12.12 | Johnson Creek flooding | |
| 2011.06.06 | Alpenrose HAZMAT incident | Ammonia leak in SW Portland, nearby residents advised to shelter in place. |
| 2011.10.06 | Occupy Portland | |
| 2012.12.11 | Clackamas Town Center shooting | Three people killed (including perpetrator) and one injured in mass shooting. |
| 2017.05.14 | River Street Warehouse Fire | Derelict warehouse with asbestos caught fire and spread pollutants. |
| 2017.08.21 | "Great American Eclipse" | Total solar eclipse that was viewable in many Oregon municipalities, resulting in lots of viewing events and choked up travel routes. |
| 2017.01.10 | 2017 Portland Snowstorm | 11.8 inches of snow in 24 hours. |
History of Community Emergency Response Teams (CERTs)
Portland Fire & Rescue staff contributed to the development of a national Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) program. The Portland version, Neighborhood Emergency Teams (NET), was the third CERT program in the country.
Notes and References
- ↑ See also from OPB: 130 years ago, the Great Flood of 1894 left Portland waterlogged for weeks
- ↑ See also: Oregonian/OregonLive, S. T. |. (2015, December 12). 20 years later: Dec. 12, 1995, windstorm ranks second only to Columbus Day Storm of 1962. Oregonlive. https://www.oregonlive.com/weather/2015/12/20_years_later_december_12_199.html
- ↑ See also: Classic windstorm of December 11, 2014. (n.d.). https://climate.washington.edu/stormking/December2014.html